Adjusting recorder timing

ABSTRACT

A portion of audio content of a multimedia program, such as a television program, is captured from a network. An audio fingerprint is generated based on the portion of audio content, and the audio fingerprint is matched to one of multiple theme song fingerprints stored in a database. An expected theme song time offset associated with the matched theme song fingerprint is retrieved from the database. It is determined whether the program is running on-schedule, based on the time the portion of audio content occurred, a scheduled start time of the program, and/or the expected theme song time offset. If it is determined that the program is running off-schedule, an adjusted start time and/or an adjusted end time of the program are calculated. The program is recorded by a recorder based on the adjusted start time and/or the adjusted end time.

BACKGROUND

1. Field

Example aspects of the present invention generally relate to videorecording, and more particularly to adjusting recorder timing by usingaudio identification.

2. Related Art

Digital video recorders (DVRs), also referred to as personal videorecorders (PVRs), have changed the way consumers view media content ontelevisions and/or other consumer electronic (“CE”) devices. Today,consumers can configure a DVR to automatically record media content,such as a television program, that is scheduled for broadcast at sometime in the future. The DVR performs the recording based on scheduledlistings data or electronic program guide (EPG) data, which indicatesthe channel, scheduled program start time, and scheduled program endtime of the program to be recorded. Once the program is recorded to theDVR, the consumer controls the DVR to view the program on a televisionor other CE device at a time convenient for the consumer.

Programs can be properly recorded to DVRs based on scheduled listingsdata so long as the programs are actually broadcasted according to thechannels, scheduled program start times, and scheduled program end timesindicated by the scheduled listings data. Sometimes, however, a programruns beyond its scheduled program end time, causing a subsequent programto be broadcasted at a later time than scheduled. This is especiallytrue in the case of live programs. Because a DVR recording is only asaccurate as the most recent scheduled listings data, a DVR configured torecord a program that follows the live program typically records thefinal portion of the live program and misses the final portion of theprogram intended to be recorded.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION

Despite the technical efforts to increase the timeliness of data updatesfor scheduled listings, update rates typically remain too slow toeffectively react to live programs running behind schedule. Oneconventional approach has been to use a flag to indicate that a programis live. If a consumer wishes to record a program following a liveprogram, the DVR provides the consumer with options for incrementallyextending the end recording time. Typically, this process includesbeginning the recording at the scheduled program start time, andextending the recording beyond the scheduled program end time in, forexample, 30 minute increments. In this way, however, the recordingtypically includes an undesired final portion of the live program and anundesired beginning portion of the program following the desiredprogram. Or, if the increment is set too small, then the DVR misses thefinal portion of the desired program. This approach yields unpredictableresults and uses up valuable memory space by storing undesiredprogramming.

Given the foregoing, it would be useful to enable a DVR to automaticallydetect changes in the actual program start time and actual program endtime of a media content broadcast, and respond to such changes byadjusting the start time and stop time used by the DVR to record thebroadcast. Doing so would improve convenience for consumers and makemore efficient use of memory space available on DVRs. One technicalchallenge in doing so, however, is detecting when specific media contentis actually broadcasted.

The example embodiments described herein meet the above-identified needsby providing methods, systems and computer program products foradjusting digital video recorder timing by using audio identification.The system includes a processor that captures a portion of audio contentof a multimedia program from a network. The processor generates an audiofingerprint based on the portion of audio content. The audio fingerprintis matched to one of multiple theme song fingerprints havingcorresponding audio identifiers (Audio_ID) stored in a database. Theprocessor retrieves from the database an expected theme song time offsetassociated with the matched theme song fingerprint stored in thedatabase. The processor determines whether the multimedia program isrunning on-schedule based on the time the portion of audio contentoccurred, the scheduled program start time of the multimedia program,and/or the expected theme song time offset.

In another aspect, the processor determines that the portion of audiocontent occurred at a time that exceeds a predetermined threshold. Atime delta, which may also be referred to herein as a delta, iscalculated based on the time the portion of audio content occurred andthe expected theme song time offset. An adjusted start time and/or anadjusted end time of the multimedia program are calculated based on thetime delta. The processor records the multimedia program based on theadjusted start time and/or the adjusted end time of the program.

Further features and advantages, as well as the structure and operation,of various example embodiments of the present invention are described indetail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The features and advantages of the example embodiments presented hereinwill become more apparent from the detailed description set forth belowwhen taken in conjunction with the drawings in which like referencenumbers indicate identical or functionally similar elements.

FIG. 1 a is a system diagram of an exemplary digital video recordertiming adjustment system 100 in which some embodiments are implemented.

FIG. 1 b is a block diagram of an example home network in which someembodiments are implemented.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an exemplary digital video recorder.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart diagram showing an exemplary procedure formodifying the timing of a content recorder in accordance with anembodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart diagram showing an exemplary procedure foradjusting digital video recorder timing in accordance with anotherembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram of an exemplary timeline of a digital videorecording in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a general and/or special purpose computersystem, in accordance with some embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Systems, methods, apparatus and computer-readable media are provided foradjusting recorder timing by using audio identification. An audioportion of media content, such as a television program, is captured andan audio fingerprint is generated from the portion of audio content. Thecontent may also be individually and/or collectively referred to asmedia or multimedia content. The audio fingerprint is matched to one ofmultiple predetermined theme song fingerprints, which have correspondingaudio identifiers (Audio_ID), stored in a database. An expected themesong time offset (t_(offset)) associated with the matched theme songfingerprint is retrieved from the database. A determination is then madeas to whether the program is running “on-schedule” based on the time theportion of audio content occurred, a scheduled program start time(t_(sched) _(—) _(prog) _(—) _(start)), and/or the expected theme songtime offset (t_(offset)). If it is determined that the program isrunning on-schedule, then the recorder records the program by using thescheduled program start time (t_(sched) _(—) _(prog) _(—) _(start)) andscheduled program end time (t_(sced) _(—) _(prog) _(—) _(end)) indicatedby scheduled listings data. If it is determined that the program isrunning “off-schedule” then the recorder calculates an adjusted starttime and an adjusted end time, which are then used to record theprogram. Exemplary aspects and embodiments are now described in moredetail herein in terms of a recorder that executes program code torecognize the audio portion of a television program while the program isdelivered, to determine whether the program is running on-schedule, andto adjust the timing used to record the program if the program isrunning off-schedule. This is for convenience only and is not intendedto limit the application of the present description. In fact, afterreading the following description, it will be apparent to one skilled inthe relevant art(s) how to implement the following invention inalternative embodiments such as, for example, by using a local areanetwork, an Internet-connected general purpose computer, a mobiletelephone, etc.

Definitions

The terms “content,” “media content,” “multimedia content,” “program,”“multimedia program,” “show,” and the like, are generally understood toinclude television shows, movies, games and videos of various types.

“Electronic program guide” or “EPG” data provides a digital guide for ascheduled broadcast television typically displayed on-screen and can beused to allow a viewer to navigate, select, and discover content bytime, title, channel, genre, etc. by use of their remote control, akeyboard, or other similar input devices. In addition, EPG datainformation can be used to schedule future recording by a digital videorecorder (DVR) or personal video recorder (PVR).

Some additional terms are defined below in alphabetical order for easyreference. These terms are not rigidly restricted to these definitions.A term may be further defined by its use in other sections of thisdescription.

“Album” means a collection of tracks. An album is typically originallypublished by an established entity, such as a record label (e.g., arecording company such as Warner Brothers and Universal Music).

“Audio Fingerprint” (e.g., “fingerprint”, “acoustic fingerprint”,“digital fingerprint”) is a digital measure of certain acousticproperties that is deterministically generated from an audio signal thatcan be used to identify an audio sample and/or quickly locate similaritems in an audio database. An audio fingerprint typically operates as aunique identifier for a particular item, such as, for example, a CD, aDVD and/or a Blu-ray Disc. The term “identifier” is defined below. Anaudio fingerprint is an independent piece of data that is not affectedby metadata. Rovi™ Corporation has databases that store over 25 millionunique fingerprints for various audio samples. Practical uses of audiofingerprints include without limitation identifying songs, identifyingrecords, identifying melodies, identifying tunes, identifyingadvertisements, monitoring radio broadcasts, monitoring multipointand/or peer-to-peer networks, managing sound effects libraries andidentifying video files.

“Audio Fingerprinting” is the process of generating an audiofingerprint. U.S. Pat. No. 7,277,766, entitled “Method and System forAnalyzing Digital Audio Files”, which is herein incorporated byreference, provides an example of an apparatus for audio fingerprintingan audio waveform. U.S. Pat. No. 7,451,078, entitled “Methods andApparatus for Identifying Media Objects”, which is herein incorporatedby reference, provides an example of an apparatus for generating anaudio fingerprint of an audio recording.

“Blu-ray”, also known as Blu-ray Disc, means a disc format jointlydeveloped by the Blu-ray Disc Association, and personal computer andmedia manufacturers including Apple, Dell, Hitachi, HP, JVC, LG,Mitsubishi, Panasonic, Pioneer, Philips, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, TDK andThomson. The format was developed to enable recording, rewriting andplayback of high-definition (HD) video, as well as storing large amountsof data. The format offers more than five times the storage capacity ofconventional DVDs and can hold 25 GB on a single-layer disc and 800 GBon a 20-layer disc. More layers and more storage capacity may befeasible as well. This extra capacity combined with the use of advancedaudio and/or video codecs offers consumers an unprecedented HDexperience. While current disc technologies, such as CD and DVD, rely ona red laser to read and write data, the Blu-ray format uses ablue-violet laser instead, hence the name Blu-ray. The benefit of usinga blue-violet laser (605 nm) is that it has a shorter wavelength than ared laser (650 nm). A shorter wavelength makes it possible to focus thelaser spot with greater precision. This added precision allows data tobe packed more tightly and stored in less space. Thus, it is possible tofit substantially more data on a Blu-ray Disc even though a Blu-ray Discmay have substantially similar physical dimensions as a traditional CDor DVD.

“Chapter” means an audio and/or video data block on a disc, such as aBlu-ray Disc, a CD or a DVD. A chapter stores at least a portion of anaudio and/or video recording.

“Compact Disc” (CD) means a disc used to store digital data. A CD wasoriginally developed for storing digital audio. Standard CDs have adiameter of 740 mm and can typically hold up to 80 minutes of audio.There is also the mini-CD, with diameters ranging from 60 to 80 mm.Mini-CDs are sometimes used for CD singles and typically store up to 24minutes of audio. CD technology has been adapted and expanded to includewithout limitation data storage CD-ROM, write-once audio and datastorage CD-R, rewritable media CD-RW, Super Audio CD (SACD), VideoCompact Discs (VCD), Super Video Compact Discs (SVCD), Photo CD, PictureCD, Compact Disc Interactive (CD-i), and Enhanced CD. The wavelengthused by standard CD lasers is 650 nm, and thus the light of a standardCD laser typically has a red color.

“Database” means a collection of data organized in such a way that acomputer program may quickly select desired pieces of the data. Adatabase is an electronic filing system. In some implementations, theterm “database” may be used as shorthand for “database managementsystem”.

“Device” means software, hardware or a combination thereof. A device maysometimes be referred to as an apparatus. Examples of a device includewithout limitation a software application such as Microsoft Word™, alaptop computer, a database, a server, a display, a computer mouse, anda hard disk. Each device is configured to carry out one or more steps ofthe method of storing an internal identifier in metadata.

“Digital Video Disc” (DVD) means a disc used to store digital data. ADVD was originally developed for storing digital video and digital audiodata. Most DVDs have substantially similar physical dimensions ascompact discs (CDs), but DVDs store more than six times as much data.There is also the mini-DVD, with diameters ranging from 60 to 80 mm. DVDtechnology has been adapted and expanded to include DVD-ROM, DVD-R,DVD+R, DVD-RW, DVD+RW and DVD-RAM. The wavelength used by standard DVDlasers is 650 nm, and thus the light of a standard DVD laser typicallyhas a red color.

“Fuzzy search” (e.g., “fuzzy string search”, “approximate stringsearch”) means a search for text strings that approximately orsubstantially match a given text string pattern. Fuzzy searching mayalso be known as approximate or inexact matching. An exact match mayinadvertently occur while performing a fuzzy search.

“Signature” means an identifying means that uniquely identifies an item,such as, for example, a track, a song, an album, a CD, a DVD and/orBlu-ray Disc, among other items. Examples of a signature include withoutlimitation the following in a computer-readable format: an audiofingerprint, a portion of an audio fingerprint, a signature derived froman audio fingerprint, an audio signature, a video signature, a discsignature, a CD signature, a DVD signature, a Blu-ray Disc signature, amedia signature, a high definition media signature, a human fingerprint,a human footprint, an animal fingerprint, an animal footprint, ahandwritten signature, an eye print, a biometric signature, a retinalsignature, a retinal scan, a DNA signature, a DNA profile, a geneticsignature and/or a genetic profile, among other signatures. A signaturemay be any computer-readable string of characters that comports with anycoding standard in any language. Examples of a coding standard includewithout limitation alphabet, alphanumeric, decimal, hexadecimal, binary,American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII), Unicodeand/or Universal Character Set (UCS). Certain signatures may notinitially be computer-readable. For example, latent human fingerprintsmay be printed on a door knob in the physical world. A signature that isinitially not computer-readable may be converted into acomputer-readable signature by using any appropriate conversiontechnique. For example, a conversion technique for converting a latenthuman fingerprint into a computer-readable signature may include a ridgecharacteristics analysis.

“Link” means an association with an object or an element in memory. Alink is typically a pointer. A pointer is a variable that contains theaddress of a location in memory. The location is the starting point ofan allocated object, such as an object or value type, or the element ofan array. The memory may be located on a database or a database system.“Linking” means associating with (e.g., pointing to) an object inmemory.

“Metadata” generally means data that describes data. More particularly,metadata may be used to describe the contents of digital recordings.Such metadata may include, for example, a track name, a song name,artist information (e.g., name, birth date, discography), albuminformation (e.g., album title, review, track listing, sound samples),relational information (e.g., similar artists and albums, genre) and/orother types of supplemental information such as advertisements, links orprograms (e.g., software applications), and related images. Metadata mayalso include a program guide listing of the songs or other audio contentassociated with multimedia content. Conventional optical discs (e.g.,CDs, DVDs, Blu-ray Discs) do not typically contain metadata. Metadatamay be associated with a digital recording (e.g., song, album, movie orvideo) after the digital recording has been ripped from an optical disc,converted to another digital audio format and stored on a hard drive.

“Network” means a connection between any two or more computers, whichpermits the transmission of data. A network may be any combination ofnetworks, including without limitation the Internet, a local areanetwork, a wide area network, a wireless network and a cellular network.

“Occurrence” means a copy of a recording. An occurrence is preferably anexact copy of a recording. For example, different occurrences of a samepressing are typically exact copies. However, an occurrence is notnecessarily an exact copy of a recording, and may be a substantiallysimilar copy. A recording may be an inexact copy for a number ofreasons, including without limitation an imperfection in the copyingprocess, different pressings having different settings, different copieshaving different encodings, and other reasons. Accordingly, a recordingmay be the source of multiple occurrences that may be exact copies orsubstantially similar copies. Different occurrences may be located ondifferent devices, including without limitation different user devices,different MP3 players, different databases, different laptops, and soon. Each occurrence of a recording may be located on any appropriatestorage medium, including without limitation floppy disk, mini disk,optical disc, Blu-ray Disc, DVD, CD-ROM, micro-drive, magneto-opticaldisk, ROM, RAM, EPROM, EEPROM, DRAM, VRAM, flash memory, flash card,magnetic card, optical card, nanosystems, molecular memory integratedcircuit, RAID, remote data storage/archive/warehousing, and/or any othertype of storage device. Occurrences may be compiled, such as in adatabase or in a listing.

“Pressing” (e.g., “disc pressing”) means producing a disc in a discpress from a master. The disc press preferably produces a disc for areader that utilizes a laser beam having a wavelength of about 780 nmfor CD, about 650 nm for DVD, about 405 nm for Blu-ray Disc or anotherwavelength as may be appropriate.

“Recording” means media data for playback. A recording is preferably acomputer readable digital recording and may be, for example, an audiotrack, a video track, a song, a chapter, a CD recording, a DVD recordingand/or a Blu-ray Disc recording, among other things.

“Server” means a software application that provides services to othercomputer programs (and their users), in the same or other computer. Aserver may also refer to the physical computer that has been set asideto run a specific server application. For example, when the softwareApache HTTP Server is used as the web server for a company's website,the computer running Apache is also called the web server. Serverapplications can be divided among server computers over an extremerange, depending upon the workload.

“Software” means a computer program that is written in a programminglanguage that may be used by one of ordinary skill in the art. Theprogramming language chosen should be compatible with the computer bywhich the software application is to be executed and, in particular,with the operating system of that computer. Examples of suitableprogramming languages include without limitation Object Pascal, C, C++and Java. Further, the functions of some embodiments, when described asa series of steps for a method, could be implemented as a series ofsoftware instructions for being operated by a processor, such that theembodiments could be implemented as software, hardware, or a combinationthereof. Computer readable media are discussed in more detail in aseparate section below.

“Song” means a musical composition. A song is typically recorded onto atrack by a record label (e.g., recording company). A song may have manydifferent versions, for example, a radio version and an extendedversion.

“System” means a device or multiple coupled devices. A device is definedabove.

“Theme song” means any audio content that is a portion of a multimediaprogram, such as a television program, and that recurs across multipleoccurrences, or episodes, of the multimedia program. A theme song may bea signature tune, song, and/or other audio content, and may includemusic, lyrics, and/or sound effects. A theme song may occur at any timeduring the multimedia program transmission, but typically plays during atitle sequence and/or during the end credits.

“Track” means an audio/video data block. A track may be on a disc, suchas, for example, a Blu-ray Disc, a CD or a DVD.

“User” means a consumer, client, and/or client device in a marketplaceof products and/or services.

“User device” (e.g., “client”, “client device”, “user computer”) is ahardware system, a software operating system and/or one or more softwareapplication programs. A user device may refer to a single computer or toa network of interacting computers. A user device may be the client partof a client-server architecture. A user device typically relies on aserver to perform some operations. Examples of a user device includewithout limitation a television, a CD player, a DVD player, a Blu-rayDisc player, a personal media device, a portable media player, an iPod™,a Zoom Player, a laptop computer, a palmtop computer, a smart phone, acell phone, a mobile phone, an MP3 player, a digital audio recorder, adigital video recorder, an IBM-type personal computer (PC) having anoperating system such as Microsoft Windows™, an Apple™ computer havingan operating system such as MAC-OS, hardware having a JAVA-OS operatingsystem, and a Sun Microsystems Workstation having a UNIX operatingsystem.

“Web browser” means any software program which can display text,graphics, or both, from Web pages on Web sites. Examples of a Webbrowser include without limitation Mozilla Firefox™ and MicrosoftInternet Explorer™.

“Web page” means any documents written in mark-up language includingwithout limitation HTML (hypertext mark-up language) or VRML (virtualreality modeling language), dynamic HTML, XML (extended mark-uplanguage) or related computer languages thereof, as well as to anycollection of such documents reachable through one specific Internetaddress or at one specific Web site, or any document obtainable througha particular URL (Uniform Resource Locator).

“Web server” refers to a computer or other electronic device which iscapable of serving at least one Web page to a Web browser. An example ofa Web server is a Yahoo™ Web server.

“Web site” means at least one Web page, and more commonly a plurality ofWeb pages, virtually coupled to form a coherent group.

System Architecture

FIG. 1 a is a system diagram of an exemplary recorder timing adjustmentsystem 100 in which some embodiments are implemented. As shown in FIG. 1a, the system 100 includes at least one content source 102 that providesmultimedia content, such as a television program or other programcontaining both video and audio content, to a recorder 104. In oneembodiment, the recorder 104 comprises a digital video recorder (DVR).The content source 102 may include several different types such as, forexample, cable, satellite, terrestrial, free-to-air, network and/orInternet.

The recorder 104 records multimedia content in a digital format to adisk drive or to any other suitable digital storage device. As shown inFIG. 1 a, the recorder 104 is communicatively coupled to a user device106, such as a television, an audio device, a video device, and/oranother type of user and/or CE device, and outputs the multimediacontent to the user device 106 upon receiving the appropriateinstructions from a suitable user input device (not shown), such as aremote control device or buttons located on the recorder 104 itself.

The user device 106 receives the multimedia content from the recorder104, and presents the multimedia content to a user. The user controlsthe operation of the user device 106 via a suitable user input device,such as buttons located on the user device 106 itself or on a remotecontrol device (not shown). In one embodiment, a single remote controldevice may enable the user to control both the user device 106 and therecorder 104. The multimedia content recorded onto the recorder 104 ispreferably viewed and/or heard by the user at a time chosen by the user.

It should be understood that the recorder 104 may be located in closeproximity to a user device 106, or may exist in a remote location, suchas on a server of a multimedia content provider. In either case, therecorder 104 operates in a substantially similar manner. An examplenetwork on which the recorder 104 may reside is described below inconnection with FIG. 1 b.

The recorder 104 periodically receives scheduled listings data 110 via atraditional scheduled listings data path 114, which can be any network,such as a proprietary network or the Internet. The recorder 104 storesthe received scheduled listings data 110 in a suitable digital storagedevice (not shown). The scheduled listings data 110, which are typicallyprovided by a multimedia content provider, include schedule informationcorresponding to specific multimedia programs, such as televisionprograms. In particular, for each multimedia program scheduled forbroadcast, the scheduled listings data 110 indicate a correspondingprogram identifier (Prog_ID), a scheduled program start time (t_(sched)_(—) _(prog) _(—) _(start)), scheduled program end time (t_(sced) _(—)_(prog) _(—) _(end)), and scheduled channel. The scheduled listings data110 typically are used in conjunction with EPG data, which, as discussedabove, are used to provide a digital guide for scheduled broadcasttelevision. The digital guide allows a user to navigate, select,discover, and schedule recordings of content by time, title, channel,genre, etc., by use of a remote control, a keyboard, or other similarinput device.

As shown in FIG. 1 a, the recorder 104 also includes an internaldatabase 108, which stores theme song data for theme songs predeterminedas being associated with particular multimedia programs. In one exampleembodiment, the database 108 stores, in association with each individualmultimedia program, a corresponding program identifier (Prog_ID), anaudio identifier (Audio_ID), a theme song fingerprint, an expected themesong time offset (t_(offset)), and a theme song tolerance (Tol). Theprogram identifier is an identifier unique to each specific multimediaprogram, and typically is received as part of the scheduled listingsdata 110. The audio identifier (Audio_ID) is an identifier unique to aspecific portion of audio content, such as a specific theme song for atelevision program. The theme song fingerprint is an audio fingerprintthat also corresponds to a specific portion of audio content. Asdiscussed above, the audio fingerprint can be used to identify an audiosample and/or quickly locate similar items in an audio database. Theexpected theme song time offset (t_(offset)) is an expected amount oftime between a scheduled program start time (t_(sched) _(—) _(prog) _(—)_(start)) of a particular program and an expected theme song start time(t_(exp) _(—) _(ts) _(—) _(start)), as shown in equation 1:

t _(offset) =t _(exp) _(—) _(ts) _(—) _(start) −t _(sched) _(—) _(prog)_(—) _(start)   (1)

The theme song tolerance (Tol), which may also be referred to herein asthe tolerance, is an adjustment factor, that is, an amount of time thatis factored into modifying a recording start time and a recording endtime so as to provide to the recorder 104 with some recording timeleeway or buffer. By using a large enough tolerance, the recorder 104can avoid failing to record a leading and/or trailing portion of theprogram. The tolerance is set to be minimal so as not to include toomuch of a preceding or subsequent program in a scheduled recording.

It should be understood that, although FIG. 1 a shows the database 108as being internal with respect to the recorder 104, embodimentsincluding an internal database, an external database, or both arecontemplated and are within the scope of the present invention.

In one embodiment, an external database 116 is located on a serverremote from the recorder 104, and communicates with the recorder 104 viaa suitable network 112, such as a proprietary network or the Internet.In this way, as new theme song data is generated and/or discovered, theinternal database 108 can be updated by receiving the data from theexternal database 116 over the network 112. For example, if a newmultimedia program is scheduled to appear in an upcoming season, newcorresponding theme song data can be generated, stored in the externaldatabase 116, and downloaded to the internal database 108 before the newprogram is ever broadcasted.

Internal database 108 and/or the external database 116 may also bedivided into multiple distinct databases and still be within the scopeof the present invention. For example, the internal database 108 may bedivided based on the type of data being stored by generating a databasefor storing theme song footprints, a database for storing expected themesong time offsets (t_(offset)), etc.

Upon a multimedia program recording being scheduled, the recorder 104tunes, based on received scheduled listings data 110, to the channel ata predetermined amount of time prior to the scheduled program start time(t_(sched) _(—) _(prog) _(—) _(start)) and captures a portion of audiocontent received from the content source 102. The recorder 104 performsan algorithm to generate an audio fingerprint (FP) for the capturedportion of audio content.

Preferably, only a subset of the captured portion of audio content isused to generate the fingerprint (FP). In one example, a fingerprintingprocedure is executed by a processor on encoded or compressed audio datawhich has been converted into a stereo pulse code modulated (PCM) audiostream. Pulse code modulation is a format by which many consumerelectronic products operate and internally compress and/or uncompressaudio data. Embodiments of the invention are advantageously performed onany type of audio data file or stream, and therefore are not limited tooperations on PCM formatted audio streams. Accordingly, any memory size,number of frames, sampling rates, time, and the like, used to performaudio fingerprinting are within the scope of the present invention.

As described in more detail below with respect to FIGS. 3 and 4, thegenerated audio fingerprint (FP) for the captured portion of audiocontent is compared by the recorder 104 to the data in the database 108to determine a known theme song and/or a multimedia program to which theportion of audio content corresponds. If the portion of audio contentcorresponds to a theme song of the program to be recorded, the recorder104 performs an algorithm that uses, among other things, the time atwhich the captured portion of audio content occurred, and the scheduledlistings data 110, to determine whether the program is runningon-schedule. If the program is not running on-schedule, the recorder 104determines whether and how to modify the start recording time and endrecording time to compensate for the delayed program. The recorder 104records the program by using the modified start and end recording timesand further enables the user to view and/or hear the program at a timechosen by the user.

FIG. 1 b is a block diagram of a network 101, in which some embodimentsare implemented. The network 101 may include a home media type network,for instance. On the network 101, may be a variety of user devices, suchas a network ready television 104 a, a personal computer 104 b, a gamingdevice 104 c, a digital video recorder 104 d, other devices 104 e, andthe like. The user devices 104 a-104 e may receive multimedia contentfrom content sources 102 through multimedia signal lines 130, through aninput interface such as the input interface 208 described below inconnection with FIG. 2. In addition, user devices 104 a-104 e maycommunicate with each other through a wired or wireless router 120 vianetwork connections 132, such as Ethernet connections. The router 120couples the user devices 104 a-104 e to the network 112, such as theInternet, through a modem 122. In an alternative embodiment, contentsources 102 are delivered from the network 112.

FIG. 2 illustrates a system 200 that includes a more detailed diagram ofthe recorder 104 of some embodiments. Within the system 200 of FIG. 2,the exemplary recorder 104 includes a processor 212 which is coupledthrough a communication infrastructure (not shown) to an outputinterface 206, a communications interface 210, a memory 214, a storagedevice 216, a remote control interface 218, and an input interface 208.

The input interface 208 receives content such as in the form of audioand video streams from the content source(s) 102, which communicate, forexample, through an HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface), RadioFrequency (RF) coaxial cable, composite video, S-Video, SCART, componentvideo, D-Terminal, VGA, and the like, with the recorder 104.

In the example shown in FIG. 2, content signals, such as audio andvideo, received by the input interface 208 from the content source(s)102 are communicated to the processor 212 for further processing. Theprocessor 212 performs audio fingerprinting on at least a subset of theaudio portion of the received content to determine the appropriateadjustments to make to the start recording times and/or the endrecording times.

The recorder 104 also includes a main memory 214. Preferably, the mainmemory 214 is random access memory (RAM). The recorder 104 also includesa storage device 216. The database 108, which, as described above,stores theme song data, is preferably included in the storage device216. The storage device 216 (also sometimes referred to as “secondarymemory”) may also include, for example, a hard disk drive and/or aremovable storage drive, representing a disk drive, a magnetic tapedrive, an optical disk drive, etc. As will be appreciated, the storagedevice 216 may include a computer-readable storage medium having storedthereon computer software and/or data.

In alternative embodiments, the storage device 216 may include othersimilar devices for allowing computer programs or other instructions tobe loaded into the recorder 104. Such devices may include, for example,a removable storage unit and an interface, a program cartridge andcartridge interface such as that found in video game devices, aremovable memory chip such as an erasable programmable read only memory(EPROM), or programmable read only memory (PROM) and associated socket,and other removable storage units and interfaces, which allow softwareand data to be transferred from the removable storage unit to therecorder 104.

The recorder 104 includes the communications interface 210 to provideconnectivity to a network 112, such as a proprietary network or theInternet. The communications interface 210 also allows software and datato be transferred between the recorder 104 and external devices.Examples of the communications interface 210 may include a modem, anetwork interface such as an Ethernet card, a communications port, aPersonal Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA) slotand card, etc. Software and data transferred via the communicationsinterface 210 are in the form of signals which may be electronic,electromagnetic, optical, or other signals capable of being received bythe communications interface 210. These signals are provided to and/orfrom the communications interface 210 via a communications path, such asa channel. This channel carries signals and may be implemented by usingwire, cable, fiber optics, a telephone line, a cellular link, an RFlink, and/or other suitable communications channels.

In one embodiment, the communications interface 210 providesconnectivity between the recorder 104 and the external database 116 viathe network 112. The communications interface 210 also providesconnectivity between the recorder 104 and the scheduled listings data110 via the traditional scheduled listings data path 114. The network112 preferably includes a proprietary network and/or the Internet.

A remote control interface 218 decodes signals received from a remotecontrol 204, such as a television remote control or other user inputdevice, and communicates the decoded signals to the processor 212. Thedecoded signals, in turn, are translated and processed by the processor212.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart diagram showing an exemplary procedure 300 formodifying the timing of a content recorder in accordance with anembodiment. Referring to FIGS. 1 a, 1 b, 2, and 3, initially, at block302, the recorder 104 captures a portion of audio content (PAC) for aprogram scheduled to be recorded from one or more content source(s) 102.At block 304, the recorder 104 determines a time of occurrence(t_(occur)) for the captured portion of audio content. The time ofoccurrence (t_(occur)) may be determined in different ways. For example,the time of occurrence (t_(occur)) may be determined based on time dataindicated by a system clock (not shown) within the recorder 104, timedata obtained by the recorder 104 via the network 112 from anInternet-based time provider, or time data from any other suitabletiming mechanism. The time of occurrence (t_(occur)) is stored in therecorder 104 as a timestamp associated with the captured portion ofaudio content. This information is used to indicate a start time, a stoptime, and/or a duration of the captured portion of audio content.

At block 306, the recorder 104 generates an audio fingerprint (FP) forthe captured portion of audio content. Generation of audio fingerprintsis described in further detail below, with reference to FIG. 4. At block308, the recorder 104 determines whether the captured portion of audiocontent corresponds to the program scheduled to be recorded. Inparticular, the recorder 104 determines whether the generated audiofingerprint (FP) of the captured portion of audio content matches aknown audio fingerprint (FP_(DB)) stored in the database 108 inassociation with the program scheduled to be recorded. If the recorder104 determines that the generated audio fingerprint (FP) of the capturedportion of audio content does not match the known audio fingerprint(FP_(DB)) then the process 300 returns to block 302 to capture anotherportion of audio content. If the recorder 104 determines that thegenerated audio fingerprint (FP) of the portion of audio content doesmatch the known audio fingerprint (FP_(DB)) then the process 300progresses to block 310.

At block 310, the recorder 104 determines whether the captured portionof audio content has occurred on-schedule by determining whether thetime of occurrence (t_(occur)) for the captured portion of audio contentmatches an expected time of occurrence (t_(offset)) stored in thedatabase 108 in association with the known audio fingerprint (FP_(DB))matched in block 308. If the recorder 104 determines that the capturedportion of audio content has occurred on-schedule, then the process 300progresses to block 312. At block 312, the recorder 104 does not modify,but instead retains, a predetermined recording start time and apredetermined recording end time based on the scheduled listings data110. In particular, the predetermined recording start time and thepredetermined recording end time are based on a scheduled program starttime and a scheduled program end time, respectively, as indicated by thescheduled listings data 110. The recorder 104 then records the programaccording to the predetermined recording start time and thepredetermined recording end time.

If, on the other hand, the recorder 104 determines at block 310 that thecaptured portion of audio content has occurred off-schedule, then theprocess 300 progresses to block 314. At block 314, the recorder 104modifies the predetermined recording start time and the predeterminedrecording end time according to one or more predetermined algorithms.The recorder 104 then records the program according to the modifiedrecording start time and the modified recording end time.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart diagram showing an exemplary procedure 400 foradjusting recorder timing in accordance with another embodiment of thepresent invention. Referring to FIGS. 1 a, 1 b, 2, and 4, initially, therecorder 104 receives a command to record a scheduled multimedia programfrom, for example, the remote control 204. In one embodiment, at block402, the user selects the scheduled program for recording by using adigital guide displayed on the user device 106 to select a programidentifier (Prog_ID) corresponding to the multimedia program. Therecorder 104 retrieves the scheduled listings data 110 corresponding tothe program identifier (Prog_ID), including a scheduled program starttime (t_(sched) _(—) _(prog) _(—) _(start)), a scheduled program endtime (t_(sced) _(—) _(prog) _(—) _(end)), and a channel for thescheduled program. At a predetermined time before the scheduled programstart time (t_(sched) _(—) _(prog) _(—) _(start)), the processor 212controls a tuner (not shown) to tune to the appropriate channel, andbegins recording multimedia content in anticipation of the scheduledprogram beginning. The predetermined time may be optimized based on, forexample, an average of previous program start time occurrences, so as toensure capture of the beginning of the program while minimizing theundesired recording of a preceding scheduled program. The predeterminedtime may be optimized based on other statistics as well. For example,the predetermined time may be based on the standard deviation ofprevious start time occurrences for the particular program.

At block 404, the input interface 208 captures a portion of audiocontent received from the content source(s) 102, and feeds the capturedaudio content, such as a PCM audio stream, to a processor 212. The inputinterface 208 also records the time of occurrence of the captured audiocontent, that is, the time and/or time range during which the portion ofaudio content is captured. At block 406, the processor 212 performs anaudio recognition process on the captured audio content. Particularly,the processor 212 analyzes the captured audio content to generate acorresponding audio fingerprint (FP).

Different audio fingerprinting algorithms may be executed by theprocessor 212 to generate audio fingerprints and that the audiofingerprints may be different. Two exemplary audio fingerprintingalgorithms are described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,451,078, entitled “Methodsand Apparatus for Identifying Media Objects,” filed Dec. 30, 2004, andU.S. Pat. No. 7,277,766, entitled “Method and System for AnalyzingDigital Audio Files,” filed Oct. 24, 2000, both of which are herebyincorporated by reference herein in their entirety. Similarly, insteadof audio fingerprinting, captured audio or other audio identificationtechniques can be used. For example, a watermark embedded into the audiostream or a tag inserted in the audio stream may be used as anidentifier.

At block 408, once an audio fingerprint (FP) or other identifier hasbeen generated for the captured audio content, the processor 212performs a lookup in the database 108 for an audio identifier(Audio_ID), such as a theme song identifier, associated with the portionof audio content based on the audio fingerprint (FP). Particularly, theprocessor 212 compares the generated audio fingerprint (FP) to the themesong fingerprints stored in the database 108 to determine whether thecaptured portion of audio content corresponds to a known theme song.This comparison may include performing one or more fuzzy searches, whichare described in further detail above.

If the processor 212 determines that no theme song fingerprint in thedatabase 108 matches the audio fingerprint (FP) of the captured audiocontent, then the process returns to block 404 to capture anotherportion of audio content. The same procedure discussed above may beperformed until the portion of audio content is recognized.

In some cases, it is desirable to capture additional audio content fromthe content source 102. For example, the audio fingerprint may not besufficiently robust to be matched to an audio identifier (Audio_ID).Various reasons may be the cause of this. One example is that audiocontent was mixed with voice-over or sound effects noises in a receivedmultimedia content stream.

To avoid, as best as possible, an inconclusive or erroneous result,additional audio content is preferably captured. This provides theprocessor 212 with more audio information, resulting in a more robustaudio fingerprint. In some cases, multiple fingerprints are associatedwith the audio content. Alternatively, the additional audio content isextracted from memory 214 or storage 216 if the audio stream has beenbuffered. The processor 212 performs audio recognition on the additionalinformation. Particularly, the additional audio information may be addedto the audio information previously captured, to make the total capturedsegment longer. Alternatively, a different start and stop time withinthe captured portion of audio content, within a song for example, may beused to generate the audio fingerprint. In yet another embodiment, theprocessor 212 is programmed to adjust the total audio capture time.

By capturing additional data, different fingerprints may be generatedfor the same portion of audio content or subset of the portion of audiocontent. Different fingerprints may be generated based on the length ofthe captured segment or based on the location within the audio stream atwhich the audio capturing took place.

Referring back to block 408, if the processor 212 determines that theaudio fingerprint (FP) of the captured audio content matches a themesong fingerprint stored in the database 108, then it obtains from thedatabase 108 an audio identifier (Audio_ID) associated with the themesong fingerprint, then the process 400 progresses to block 410.

At block 410, the processor 212 compares the audio identifier (Audio_ID)obtained in block 408 to all the audio identifiers associated with theprogram identifier (Prog_ID) of the program to be recorded. The audioidentifiers that are associated with the program identifier (Prog_ID)also are stored in the database 108. In this way, the processor 212determines whether the captured audio content corresponds to the programscheduled to be recorded. This comparison may include performing one ormore fuzzy searches, which are described in further detail above. If theprocessor 212 determines that the audio fingerprint (FP) of the capturedaudio content does not correspond to the program scheduled to berecorded, then the process 400 returns to block 404 to capture anotherportion of audio content, as discussed above. In this case, theprocessor 212 may determine that a program different from the programscheduled to be recorded is being broadcasted. In one embodiment, theprocessor 212 uses this information to validate scheduled listings data110, as described in further detail below.

If the processor 212 determines that the audio fingerprint (FP) of thecaptured audio content corresponds to the program scheduled to berecorded, then the process 400 progresses to block 412. At block 412,the processor 212 retrieves from the database 108 the expected themesong time offset (t_(offset)) of the theme song to which the capturedportion of audio content was matched. As described above with referenceto equation 1, the expected theme song time offset (t_(offset)) is theexpected time into the beginning of the program that the theme song isexpected to occur. For example, the expected theme song time offset(t_(offset)) may be zero if the theme song begins at the same time asthe show begins. Alternatively, the expected theme song time offset(t_(offset)) may be a nonzero number if the theme occurs, for example,four minutes after the program begins. The expected theme song timeoffset (t_(offset)) can be computed based on the statistics of previousshows or based on editorially generated timings. For example, theexpected theme song time offset (t_(offset)) may be an average of thethemesong time offsets (t_(offset)) of previous shows. The expectedtheme song time offset (t_(offset)) preferably is not a single time, butrather is a range of times to account for variations in the occurrencetime of the theme song, as well as variations in the time the portion ofthe theme song is captured.

The processor 212 compares the occurrence time of the captured audiocontent to the scheduled program start time (t_(sched) _(—) _(prog) _(—)_(start)), taking into account the expected theme song time offset(t_(offset)) and the theme song tolerance (Tol) stored in the database108, to determine whether the theme song is occurring on-schedule.Particularly, the processor 212 computes an expected theme song starttime (t_(exp) _(—) _(ts) _(—) _(start)) based on the sum of thescheduled program start time (t_(sched) _(—) _(prog) _(—) _(start)), theexpected theme song time offset (t_(offset)), and the theme songtolerance (Tol). A predetermined threshold or window may be used suchthat if the actual theme song start time (t_(actual) _(—) _(ts) _(—)_(start)) exceeds the threshold or window, then the program is deemed tobe occurring off-schedule. Similarly, if the actual theme song starttime (t_(actual) _(—) _(ts) _(—) _(start)) is below the threshold orwindow, then the program is deemed to be occurring on-schedule.

If the processor 212 determines that the theme song is occurringon-schedule, then the process 400 progresses to block 416. At block 416,the processor 212 uses the scheduled program start time (t_(sched) _(—)_(prog) _(—) _(start)) and scheduled program end time (t_(sced) _(—)_(prog) _(—) _(end)) for recording the scheduled program. In otherwords, the processor 212 does not modify the start and stop recordingtimes retrieved from the scheduled listings data 110.

If the processor 212 determines that the theme song is occurringoff-schedule, then the process 400 progresses to block 414. At block414, the processor 212 calculates a time delta (t_(delta)) between thescheduled program start time (t_(sched) _(—) _(prog) _(—) _(start)) andthe actual program start time (t_(actual) _(—) _(prog) _(—) _(start)).This time delta (t_(delta)) is calculated as the difference between theoccurrence time of the captured audio content and the expected themesong time offset (t_(offset)). Once the time delta (t_(delta)) iscalculated, the process 400 progresses to block 418.

At block 418, the processor 212 calculates an adjusted program starttime (t_(adj) _(—) _(prog) _(—) _(start)) and an adjusted program endtime (t_(adj) _(—) _(prog) _(—) _(end)), respectively, by using thefollowing equations:

$\begin{matrix}{t_{{{adj}\_ {prog}}{\_ {start}}} = {t_{{{sched}\_ {prog}}{\_ {start}}} + \left( {t_{delta} - \frac{Tol}{{Start\_ Tol}{\_ Factor}}} \right)}} & (2) \\{t_{{{adj}\_ {prog}}{\_ {end}}} = {t_{{{sched}\_ {prog}}{\_ {end}}} + \left( {t_{delta} + \frac{Tol}{{End\_ Tol}{\_ Factor}}} \right)}} & (3)\end{matrix}$

The tolerance (Tol) shown in equations (2) and (3), represents apredetermined amount of time to provide a temporal leeway ensuring thatthe entire program is recorded, including the actual program start time(t_(actual) _(—) _(prog) _(—) _(start)) and the actual program end time(t_(actual) _(—) _(prog) _(—) _(end)). For example, if the program isscheduled to run for one hour, and the expected theme song time offset(t_(offset)) is four minutes, then the tolerance (Tol) may be tenseconds. The tolerance (Tol), the start tolerance factor(Start_Tol_Factor), and/or the end tolerance factor (End_Tol_Factor) mayeach be based on statistics of start times and/or end times of previousoccurrences of a particular program. For example, the start tolerancefactor (Start_Tol_Factor) may be the standard deviation of previoustheme song time offsets (t_(offset)).

Instead of using the scheduled program start time (t_(sched) _(—)_(prog) _(—) _(start)), the recorder 104 uses the adjusted program starttime (t_(adj) _(—) _(prog) _(—) _(star)t), as calculated above, torecord the program into the storage device 216. Particularly, theprocessor 212 begins recording the program at a predetermined timebefore the scheduled program start time (t_(sched) _(—) _(prog) _(—)_(start)), and then the processor 212 erases the run over, or recordingtime “overrun,” of the previous program off of the beginning of therecording. In other words, the processor 212 erases the programmingrecorded from the beginning of the recording up to the adjusted programstart time (t_(adj prog start)) calculated above. This increasesconvenience for the user, by eliminating the need to fast forwardthrough the previous program overlap to view the desired program. Also,by erasing the recording time overrun of undesired programs, therecorder 104 conserves more storage space in the storage device 216 forstoring desired programs. Thus, the recorder 104 maximizes the use ofstorage space in the storage device 216.

Instead of using the scheduled program end time (t_(sched grog end)),which would result in the recorder 104 failing to record an end portionof the program, the recorder 104 uses the adjusted program end time(t_(adj) _(—) _(prog) _(—) _(end)), as calculated above, to record theprogram into the storage device 216. In this way, the entire program isrecorded, not just a beginning portion of the program.

Although not shown, in an alternative embodiment, the processor 212switches to a more robust algorithm of capturing portions of audiocontent upon detecting that a program is potentially runningbehind-schedule. For example, the processor 212 captures larger portionsof audio content and/or captures audio content more frequently to ensurethat the processor 212 detects the actual beginning of the program to berecorded. Using a more robust algorithm also increases the accuracy ofthe time of occurrence of the captured audio content and thus theaccuracy of the time delta (t_(delta)) calculation.

In another alternative embodiment, the recorder 104 is used to validatethe scheduled listings data 110. One or more processors 212 continuallycapture portions of audio content on one or more channels simultaneouslyto generate audio fingerprints for each portion of audio content. Theone or more processors 212 then perform lookups of audio identifiers(Audio_ID) stored in the database 108 based on the generated audiofingerprints. Particularly, the one or more processors 212 compare thegenerated audio fingerprints to the known theme song fingerprints in thedatabase 108 to determine whether the portions of audio contentcorrespond to known theme songs. The one or more processors 212 thencompare the occurrences of the detected theme songs to the scheduledlistings data 110 to determine any discrepancies. The recorder 104reports the discrepancies and/or modifies the scheduled listings data110 according to the discrepancies.

In yet another alternative embodiment, the recorder 104 is used todetect new programs. More particularly, the processor 212 looks up aprogram listed in the scheduled listings data 110, generates audiofingerprints for successive occurrences of the program, and uses thegenerated audio fingerprints to develop a theme song fingerprint for theprogram.

FIG. 5 is a diagram of an exemplary timeline 500 of a digital videorecording in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. In thisexample, FIG. 5 indicates a timeline of a single channel of a multimediatransmission from 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM. With reference to FIGS. 1 a, 1 b,and 5, the recorder 104 is configured to record a scheduled programoccurrence 510 that is scheduled for transmission and/or reception onthe channel from 8:00 PM to 9:00 PM. The preceding program 504, however,is running 16 minutes long, or has a time overrun of about 16 minutes.Unless the start recording time and the end recording time of therecorder 104 are modified, the recording will undesirably include thefinal 16 minutes of the preceding program 504 and will furtherundesirably miss the final 16 minutes of the program intended to berecorded. As described above with respect to FIG. 4, at a predeterminedtime before 8:00 PM, the processor 212 tunes to the channel and beginsrecording in anticipation of the beginning of the desired program. Theinput interface 208 successively captures portions of audio contentreceived from the content source(s) 102 and compares the capturedportions of audio content to the audio identifiers (Audio_ID) stored inthe database 108 until the theme song occurrence is detected, whichoccurs in FIG. 5 at 8:22 PM.

The processor 212 retrieves from the database 108 the expected themesong time offset (t_(offset)) of the theme song to which the capturedportion of audio content was matched. In this example, the expectedtheme song time offset (t_(offset)) is four minutes, as apparent fromthe difference between the expected theme song start time 508 (t_(exp)_(—) _(ts) _(—) _(start)=8:04 PM) and the scheduled program start time516 (t_(sched) _(—) _(grog) _(—) _(start)=8:00 PM). The processor 212compares the actual theme song start time 526 (t_(actual) _(—) _(ts)_(—) _(start)=8:22 PM) to the expected theme song time offset(t_(offset)=4 minutes) stored in the database 108, determining that thetheme song has occurred behind-schedule.

The processor 212 calculates a time delta 524 (t_(delta)) as thedifference between the actual theme song start time 526 (t_(actual) _(—)_(ts) _(—) _(start)=8:22 PM) and the expected theme song start time 508(t_(exp) _(—) _(ts) _(—) _(start)=8:04 PM). In this example, the timedelta 524 (t_(delta)) equals 18 minutes (the difference between 8:22 PMand 8:04 PM).

The processor 212 then calculates an adjusted program start time(t_(adi) _(—) _(grog) _(—) _(start)) and an adjusted program end time(t_(adj prog end)), respectively by using equations (2) and (3). In thisexample, a tolerance (Tol) of four minutes is used and both the starttolerance factor (Start_Tol_Factor) and the end tolerance factor(End_Tol_Factor) equal one. Applying equations (2) and (3) to theexample of FIG. 5 yields:

$\begin{matrix}{t_{{{adj}\_ {prog}}{\_ {start}}} = {{{8\text{:}00\mspace{14mu} {PM}} + \left( {{18\mspace{14mu} {minutes}} - \frac{4\mspace{14mu} {minutes}}{1}} \right)} = {8\text{:}14\text{:}00\mspace{14mu} {PM}}}} & (4) \\{t_{{{adj}\_ {prog}}{\_ {end}}} = {{{9\text{:}00\mspace{14mu} {PM}} + \left( {{18\mspace{14mu} {minutes}} + \frac{4\mspace{14mu} {minutes}}{1}} \right)} = {9\text{:}22\text{:}00\mspace{14mu} {PM}}}} & (5)\end{matrix}$

The recorder 104 then uses the adjusted program start time (t_(adj) _(—)_(prog) _(—) _(start)=8:14:00 PM) and the adjusted program end time(t_(adj) _(—) _(prog) _(—) _(end)=9:22:00 PM), as calculated above, torecord the program into the storage device 216. Particularly, theprocessor 212 begins recording the program at a predetermined timebefore the scheduled program start time 516 (t_(sched) _(—) _(prog) _(—)_(start)=8:00 PM), and then the processor 212 erases the programmingthat was recorded prior to 8:14:00 PM. The recorder 104 continues torecord the program until 9:22:00 PM.

Exemplary Computer Readable Medium Implementation

The example embodiments described above such as, for example, thesystems 100, 200, the procedures 300, 400, the timeline 500, or anypart(s) or function(s) thereof, may be implemented by using hardware,software or a combination thereof and may be implemented in one or morecomputer systems or other processing systems. However, the manipulationsperformed by these example embodiments were often referred to in terms,such as entering, which are commonly associated with mental operationsperformed by a human operator. No such capability of a human operator isnecessary in any of the operations described herein. For example, therecorder 104 may automatically record programs without a viewer's inputthrough the remote control 204. In other words, the operations may becompletely implemented with machine operations. Useful machines forperforming the operation of the example embodiments presented hereininclude general purpose digital computers or similar devices.

FIG. 6 is a high-level block diagram of a general and/or special purposecomputer system 600, in accordance with some embodiments. The computersystem 600 may be, for example, a user device, a user computer, a clientcomputer and/or a server computer, among other things.

The computer system 600 preferably includes without limitation aprocessor device 610, a main memory 625, and an interconnect bus 605.The processor device 610 may include without limitation a singlemicroprocessor, or may include a plurality of microprocessors forconfiguring the computer system 600 as a multi-processor system. Themain memory 625 stores, among other things, instructions and/or data forexecution by the processor device 610. If the system is partiallyimplemented in software, the main memory 625 stores the executable codewhen in operation. The main memory 625 may include banks of dynamicrandom access memory (DRAM), as well as cache memory.

The computer system 600 may further include a mass storage device 630,peripheral device(s) 640, portable storage medium device(s) 650, inputcontrol device(s) 680, a graphics subsystem 660, and/or an outputdisplay 670. For explanatory purposes, all components in the computersystem 600 are shown in FIG. 6 as being coupled via the bus 605.However, the computer system 600 is not so limited. Devices of thecomputer system 600 may be coupled through one or more data transportmeans. For example, the processor device 610 and/or the main memory 625may be coupled via a local microprocessor bus. The mass storage device630, peripheral device(s) 640, portable storage medium device(s) 650,and/or graphics subsystem 660 may be coupled via one or moreinput/output (I/O) buses. The mass storage device 630 is preferably anonvolatile storage device for storing data and/or instructions for useby the processor device 610. The mass storage device 630 may beimplemented, for example, with a magnetic disk drive or an optical diskdrive. In a software embodiment, the mass storage device 630 ispreferably configured for loading contents of the mass storage device630 into the main memory 625.

The portable storage medium device 650 operates in conjunction with anonvolatile portable storage medium, such as, for example, a compactdisc read only memory (CD-ROM), to input and output data and code to andfrom the computer system 600. In some embodiments, the software forstoring an internal identifier in metadata may be stored on a portablestorage medium, and may be inputted into the computer system 600 via theportable storage medium device 650. The peripheral device(s) 640 mayinclude any type of computer support device, such as, for example, aninput/output (I/O) interface configured to add additional functionalityto the computer system 600. For example, the peripheral device(s) 640may include a network interface card for interfacing the computer system600 with a network 620.

The input control device(s) 680 provide a portion of the user interfacefor a user of the computer system 600. The input control device(s) 680may include a keypad and/or a cursor control device. The keypad may beconfigured for inputting alphanumeric and/or other key information. Thecursor control device may include, for example, a mouse, a trackball, astylus, and/or cursor direction keys. In order to display textual andgraphical information, the computer system 600 preferably includes thegraphics subsystem 660 and the output display 670. The output display670 may include a cathode ray tube (CRT) display and/or a liquid crystaldisplay (LCD). The graphics subsystem 660 receives textual and graphicalinformation, and processes the information for output to the outputdisplay 670.

Each component of the computer system 600 may represent a broad categoryof a computer component of a general and/or special purpose computer.Components of the computer system 600 are not limited to the specificimplementations provided here.

Portions of the invention may be conveniently implemented by using aconventional general purpose computer, a specialized digital computerand/or a microprocessor programmed according to the teachings of thepresent disclosure, as will be apparent to those skilled in the computerart. Appropriate software coding may readily be prepared by skilledprogrammers based on the teachings of the present disclosure.

Some embodiments may also be implemented by the preparation ofapplication-specific integrated circuits, field programmable gatearrays, or by interconnecting an appropriate network of conventionalcomponent circuits.

Some embodiments include a computer program product. The computerprogram product may be a storage medium or media having instructionsstored thereon or therein which can be used to control, or cause, acomputer to perform any of the processes of the invention. The storagemedium may include without limitation a floppy disk, a mini disk, anoptical disc, a Blu-ray Disc, a DVD, a CD-ROM, a micro-drive, amagneto-optical disk, a ROM, a RAM, an EPROM, an EEPROM, a DRAM, a VRAM,a flash memory, a flash card, a magnetic card, an optical card,nanosystems, a molecular memory integrated circuit, a RAID, remote datastorage/archive/warehousing, and/or any other type of device suitablefor storing instructions and/or data.

Stored on any one of the computer readable medium or media, someimplementations include software for controlling both the hardware ofthe general and/or special computer or microprocessor, and for enablingthe computer or microprocessor to interact with a human user or othermechanism utilizing the results of the invention. Such software mayinclude without limitation device drivers, operating systems, and userapplications. Ultimately, such computer readable media further includessoftware for performing aspects of the invention, as described above.

Included in the programming and/or software of the general and/orspecial purpose computer or microprocessor are software modules forimplementing the processes described above.

While various example embodiments of the present invention have beendescribed above, it should be understood that they have been presentedby way of example, and not limitation. It will be apparent to personsskilled in the relevant art(s) that various changes in form and detailcan be made therein. Thus, the present invention should not be limitedby any of the above described example embodiments, but should be definedonly in accordance with the following claims and their equivalents.

In addition, it should be understood that the figures are presented forexample purposes only. The architecture of the example embodimentspresented herein is sufficiently flexible and configurable, such that itmay be utilized and navigated in ways other than that shown in theaccompanying figures.

Further, the purpose of the Abstract is to enable the U.S. Patent andTrademark Office and the public generally, and especially thescientists, engineers and practitioners in the art who are not familiarwith patent or legal terms or phraseology, to determine quickly from acursory inspection the nature and essence of the technical disclosure ofthe application. The Abstract is not intended to be limiting as to thescope of the example embodiments presented herein in any way. It is alsoto be understood that the procedures recited in the claims need not beperformed in the order presented.

1. A method for adjusting recorder timing by using audio identification,the method comprising: capturing a portion of audio content of amultimedia program from a network; generating an audio fingerprint basedon the captured portion of audio content; matching the audio fingerprintto one of a plurality of theme song fingerprints stored in a database;retrieving, from the database, an expected theme song time offsetassociated with a matching theme song fingerprint; and determiningwhether the multimedia program is running on-schedule based on at leastone of: a time of occurrence of the portion of audio content, ascheduled start time of the multimedia program, and the expected themesong time offset.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:determining that the time of occurrence of the portion of audio contentexceeds a predetermined threshold; calculating a time delta based atleast in part on the time of occurrence of the portion of audio contentand the expected theme song time offset; calculating at least one of anadjusted start time and an adjusted end time of the multimedia programbased on the time delta; and recording, by a recorder, the multimediaprogram based on at least one of the adjusted start time and theadjusted end time.
 3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:determining that the time of occurrence of the portion of audio contentis below the predetermined threshold; and recording, by a recorder, themultimedia program based on at least one of the scheduled start time anda scheduled end time of the multimedia program.
 4. The method accordingto claim 2, wherein the calculating at least one of the adjusted starttime and the adjusted end time further includes calculating at least oneof the adjusted start time and the adjusted end time based on at leastone of a scheduled start time of the multimedia program, a scheduled endtime of the multimedia program, an expected theme song time offset ofthe multimedia program, and a theme song tolerance of the multimediaprogram.
 5. The method according to claim 4, further comprising:retrieving, from the database, at least one of the expected theme songtime offset of the multimedia program and the theme song tolerance ofthe multimedia program.
 6. The method according to claim 2, wherein atleast one of the expected theme song time offset of the multimediaprogram, and the theme song tolerance of the multimedia program arecomputed based on statistics for a plurality of occurrences of themultimedia program.
 7. The method according to claim 2, furthercomprising: erasing, by the recorder, data recorded from the scheduledstart time of the multimedia program to minimize undesired recordingtime preceding the adjusted start time of the multimedia program.
 8. Asystem for adjusting recorder timing by using audio identification, thesystem including at least one processor operable to: capture a portionof audio content of a multimedia program from a network; generate anaudio fingerprint based on the captured portion of audio content; matchthe audio fingerprint to one of a plurality of theme song fingerprintsstored in a database; retrieve, from the database, an expected themesong time offset associated with a matching theme song fingerprint; anddetermine whether the multimedia program is running on-schedule based onat least one of: a time of occurrence of the portion of audio content, ascheduled start time of the multimedia program, and the expected themesong time offset.
 9. The system according to claim 8, wherein theprocessor is further operable to: determine that the time of occurrenceof the portion of audio content exceeds a predetermined threshold;calculate a time delta based at least in part on the time of occurrenceof the portion of audio content and the expected theme song time offset;calculate at least one of an adjusted start time and an adjusted endtime of the multimedia program based on the time delta; and record themultimedia program based on at least one of the adjusted start time andthe adjusted end time.
 10. The system according to claim 8, wherein theprocessor is further operable to: determine that the time of occurrenceof the portion of audio content is below the predetermined threshold;and record the multimedia program based on at least one of the scheduledstart time and a scheduled end time of the multimedia program.
 11. Thesystem according to claim 9, wherein the processor is further operableto: calculate at least one of the adjusted start time and the adjustedend time based on at least one of a scheduled start time of themultimedia program, a scheduled end time of the multimedia program, anexpected theme song time offset of the multimedia program, and a themesong tolerance of the multimedia program.
 12. The system according toclaim 11, wherein the processor is further operable to: retrieve, fromthe database, at least one of the expected theme song time offset of themultimedia program and the theme song tolerance of the multimediaprogram.
 13. The system according to claim 9, wherein at least one ofthe expected theme song time offset of the multimedia program, and thetheme song tolerance of the multimedia program are computed based onstatistics of previous broadcasts of the multimedia program.
 14. Thesystem according to claim 9, wherein the processor is further operableto: erase data recorded from the scheduled start time of the multimediaprogram to minimize undesired recording time preceding the adjustedstart time of the multimedia program.
 15. A computer-readable mediumhaving stored thereon sequences of instructions, the sequences ofinstructions including instructions, which, when executed by aprocessor, cause the processor to perform: capturing a portion of audiocontent of a multimedia program from a network; generating an audiofingerprint based on the captured portion of audio content; matching theaudio fingerprint to one of a plurality of theme song fingerprintsstored in a database; retrieving, from the database, an expected themesong time offset associated with a matching theme song fingerprint; anddetermining whether the multimedia program is running on-schedule basedon at least one of a time of occurrence of the portion of audio content,a scheduled start time of the multimedia program, and the expected themesong time offset.
 16. The computer-readable medium according to claim15, further having stored thereon a sequence of instructions, which,when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform:determining that the time of occurrence of the portion of audio contentexceeds a predetermined threshold; calculating a time delta based atleast in part on the time of occurrence of the portion of audio contentand the expected theme song time offset; calculating at least one of anadjusted start time and an adjusted end time of the multimedia programbased on the time delta; and recording, by a recorder, the multimediaprogram based on at least one of the adjusted start time and theadjusted end time.
 17. The computer-readable medium according to claim15, further having stored thereon a sequence of instructions, which,when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform:determining that the time of occurrence of the portion of audio contentis below the predetermined threshold; and recording, by a recorder, themultimedia program based on at least one of the scheduled start time anda scheduled end time of the multimedia program.
 18. Thecomputer-readable medium according to claim 16, wherein the calculatingat least one of the adjusted start time and the adjusted end timefurther includes calculating at least one of the adjusted start time andthe adjusted end time based on at least one of a scheduled start time ofthe multimedia program, a scheduled end time of the multimedia program,an expected theme song time offset of the multimedia program, and atheme song tolerance of the multimedia program.
 19. Thecomputer-readable medium according to claim 18, further having storedthereon a sequence of instructions, which, when executed by theprocessor, cause the processor to perform: retrieving, from thedatabase, at least one of the expected theme song time offset of themultimedia program and the theme song tolerance of the multimediaprogram.
 20. The computer-readable medium according to claim 16, whereinat least one of the expected theme song time offset of the multimediaprogram, and the theme song tolerance of the multimedia program arecomputed based on statistics for a plurality of occurrences of themultimedia program.